Koji Igarashi, the developer mastermind behind the likes of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, has announced his next project, called Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
The game is now being crowdfunded on Kickstarter, with Igarashi bypassing a traditional deal to get the game published. He is seeking $500,000 in order to get the game off the ground.
In fact, at the time of this writing, the campaign had already reached a whopping $584,577, with 7,881 backers and still 32 days to go before the end of the campaign, being completely funded in only four hours.
It is largely expected that the gameplay for the game will be very similar to that found in the Castlevania series, with mock screen shots for the game offering a glimpse at what seems to be a very Igarashi-esque design. The game will be available to those who donate $28 or more and is the first that Igarashi has worked on since leaving Konami last year.
Konami certainly still has the rights to the Castlevania name and brand, however, it does not have the right to the action-RPG mash-up style of game for which Igarashi is known.
"Publishers of the world told me that gamers no longer care for this style of game," said Igarashi in his Kickstarter video. "But I know they are wrong!"
It was certainly interesting to see Igarashi being left out of the Castlevania series, especially because of how involved he was with it. Fans were a little surprised to see the series being handed over to Hideo Kojima, the producer behind Metal Gear Solid, with development itself being outsourced to Spain.
"As soon as I graduated from college, I went straight into Konami. I'd never left Konami," said Igarashi. "So that's kind of a scary thing when you haven't done something like that before."
Of course, now that the game has been funded, there are a series of "stretch goals" that can be attained. At $600,000, the artbook will be upgraded to hardcover. At $700,000, there will be a second playable character. At $800,000, the game will include a "nightmare" difficulty mode. Finally, at $850,000, it will include voice acting by David Hayter, known for his voice acting in games like Metal Gear Solid.
Igarashi himself will serve as the game's director and producer, with development duties being taken over by Inti Creates, the studio behind games like Mega Man 9.
The game itself will be released to PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and will be shipped in March of 2017. The video promoting the game can be found below.
